


Do You Know?

by Brain_Flower



Category: Adam Lambert (Musician), Tommy Ratliff (Musician)
Genre: Child Abuse, M/M, Mental Disorders, Minor Character Death, Psychoanalysis, Self Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-06
Updated: 2012-06-26
Packaged: 2017-11-07 01:50:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/425589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brain_Flower/pseuds/Brain_Flower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a bad town for such a pretty face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'll Go To Sleep At Night

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if the format is weird. There were a lot of stories I wrote more than a year ago and I lost a lot of the documents in a virus. So any mistakes are mine.

Dia Ratliff always knew her youngest son was restless. Even now at one in the morning, while she and her husband watched the child play in the floor. Their oldest child, Lisa had long gone to bed and now the parents were desperate for Tommy to sleep so that they too could go to bed.

She knew how tired the four year old was, they'd been dealing with this since the day he was born he just couldn't get to sleep. But they passed it off as a phase; every doctor they went to told them he would out grow the strange sleep pattern.

Dia was beginning to find herself snapping at her two children more than usual because of her loss of sleep. And her husband, Ron, his patience was slowly getting thinner and thinner with his son.

"He needs to go to sleep." Ron whispered glancing at his wife.

"I think he almost is." She answered, her eyes trained on Tommy as he lay on his side in the floor, his usual wide, chocolate eyes nearly closed and his mouth open. 

"Dear God I hope so, we can't keep doing this Dia, he hasn't had one regular night of sleep since he was born. We're getting worried and I can see Lisa starting to worry. This just isn't normal." He sighed getting up and walking over to his sleeping son.

"No Daddy." Tommy whimpered as Ron picked him up, "please no bed."

"It's ok Tommy just time for bed, shh close your eyes you're very tired buddy." He soothed.

"Nonot tirednot time for bed."

"Tommy Joe, baby you're very tired it's past your bed time and it's past Mommy and Daddy's bed time." Dia murmured following Ron to Tommy's bedroom.

"Mommy is Tommy bad cause he won't sleep?" The child asked as Ron laid him in the bed and pulled the covers up.

"No, Tommy isn't bad he just has trouble going to sleep, baby listen to me, Daddy and I love you very much, but we need you to try and sleep and stay in bed tonight. We have work tomorrow and Lisa has school, so we need to sleep and you do too, because you are going to stay with a new sitter tomorrow." She explained, stroking the four year olds blonde hair. 

"Who?"

"One of Mommy's friends, Mrs. Leila and I expect Tommy to be on his best behavior, will you promise Mommy you'll be good?"

"Ok MommaI'll be good for her and I'll be good tonight so you and Daddy won't be tired and go to sleep at work tomorrow. I love you Mommy." He smiled crawling out from under the covers and hugging her. He then turned to Ron doing the same, "I love you Daddy."

The couple smiled hugging and kissing their son and exchanging I love you's. Before leaving, Dia turned on the baby monitor that sat on the nightstand beside Tommy's bed. Of course they still had a baby monitor in Tommy's room, the child liked to get up in the middle of the night and wonder around the house. Or on some rare occasions, when she was awaken by his piercing cries. 

"Goodnight Tommy Joe." She whispered following Ron out and flipping the fan off as she left. They had recently discovered that Tommy had a better chance of staying in bed when there was complete darkness and the hum of the ceiling fan. And let's face it: They'd do anything for that.

When Dia and Ron got to their room they all but collapsed into the bed, thankful to finally be there. "He's going to be the death of us." Ron yawned.

Dia laughed quietly, "two is defiantly enough, I can't handle another one like him."

Ron joined her laughter, "but I don't regret a second of it, he may be annoying and hard to deal with, but he's ours and he's fucking adorable."

"Aww that's so sweet Ron! You can't help but love the kid." She whispered before drifting off to sleep, the quiet sound of Tommy coming through the monitor.

"I'll go to sleep at night...I'll go to sleep at night Mommy. I'll go to sleep at...night"


	3. Out of My Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mention that I wrote this story for a friend of mine. Peyton stayed with me all the way through and helped me write when I got writers block.

"That's my child?" Dia asked when she saw Tommy asleep on Adam's lap. 

"Yeah he didn't go to sleep all day, not until Adam got home. I held him all day trying to get him to sleep, Adam came home, I went to feed Neil, when I came back he was asleep." Leila said, "Adam how did you get him to sleep?"

"I sang to him and rubbed his back." Adam answered, before continuing to sing softly.

Dia sighed, "maybe you just have the magic touch, I've tried both and it didn't work. I'm afraid that if I pick him up he'll wake up and won't go back to sleep."

"Oh, that reminds me, when I was holding him today he told me he heard every noise around him. Every drip of the sink, every tick of the clock, which kind of set some things off for me, I don't know. Listen, when Adam has trouble going to sleep I give him a warm bath, which helps a child relax and then I heat up milk and give that to him in a baby's bottle while he's in bed." Leila explained.

"A baby's bottle?"

"Yeah I know it sounds weird, but that way he can have it in bed and if he falls asleep he's not in the floor. And you have to be clear on what you want, he'll stay in bed if you lay him down and tell him to stay in the bed. Dia, I know he's only four, but there's something more to this sleeping disorder than you think. I watched him today while I was feeding Neil, he stares into space like there's something there, his eyes ran across the ceiling several times seemingly following something." Leila murmured.

"I'll keep an eye on that tonight, I've always been worried there was something more." Mrs. Ratliff moved towards her sleeping son. 

Before she could touch him, Tommy's eyes snapped open and he stared deeply at her, "you woke me up." She could have sworn she heard him growl, but she shrugged it off.

"I'm sorry baby, it's time to go home." She said stroking his hair, "can you tell them bye and thank you for watching you."

"Thank you." The answer emitted from the blond was clipped and edgy, as he got up and walked towards the door. 

"Sorry, he must be grumpy hopefully that means he'll go back to bed. Thanks for watching him." Dia mumbled walking out with Tommy and putting him in her car. "How was your day?" She asked Tommy, glancing at him through the rearview mirror.

"Good until you woke me up." The blonde answered, eyes narrowed and nails digging into his skin.

"Tommy Joe Ratliff clip the attitude, I don't know what your deal is, but it needs to stop." She said raising her voice slightly.

Tommy looked away glaring harshly out the window, his arm in his mouth, biting down hard, something Dia hadn't noticed.

When they arrived home and Dia pulled him out of the car, her mouth dropped when she saw the teeth marks on his arm, "did you do this to yourself?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Tommy shrugged, "I wanted to."

"You wanted to?" She was yelling now, "that has to be the stupidest excuse I've heard from your mouth, look Tommy Joe I realize I woke you up, but if you don't straighten up right this minutes, I'm going to give you something to be mad about." She warned walking into the house.

Lisa looked up from what she was doing as they walked in, then went back to what she was doing. She wasn't about to get involved.

Seconds later Dia found the nail marks in his arms, "what are you a masochist now?"

"Mom, he's four what does he know about Masochism?" Lisa asked not looking up from her work, "be realistic here."

"Lisa." She warned.

"Why do you hate me?" Tommy screamed from across the kitchen, his back turned from his mother, "you regret me being born I know you do." And with that the child stomped out.

"Mom, that's not Tommy, he's four not a twelve year old girl, so either he retains too much of what he sees or something's wrong." Lisa said picking up her text book and walked out.

-_\/\/_-Siren Jax-_\/\/_-

Dinner was hell to say in the least. Tommy was still irritable, Dia stressed, and Lisa and Ron kept quiet, not wanting to start anything.

"Tommy eat." Dia muttered.

"M not hungry." The blond said.

"You won't leave my table until you eat." She tried to keep her voice down, but didn't do a very good job.

"Why are you yelling at me?" He whimpered, "why do you hate me."

"That's it, I'm tired of you." She growled standing up and pulling him from his chair, "I don't hate you, I don't regret you being born you will do what I say and you will quit this hurting yourself crap. Do you understand me?"

The child only nodded.

"What was that? Do I get a yes ma'am or are you going to be disrespectful?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good." She muttered pulling him into the bathroom. "You annoy me beyond my breaking point, but I don't hate you, I hate hearing that from you I don't want this attitude from you."

Quickly she bathed him, then put him bed, "now go to bed, not a sound from you."

"Will you lay with me?" He asked innocently.

"Not tonight go to bed, no more noise and don't get up." She said, turning off the lights and walking out. Telling Ron and Lisa to ignore the child's crying, Dia finished dinner, and cleared the table. The rest of the night was awkward, with Dia pissed they tried not to set her off. Tommy's constant crying wasn't helping any and she eventually yelled at him to be quiet from her spot on the couch. 

-_\/\/_-Siren Jax-_\/\/_-

At one when Tommy's crying turned into a piercing, screaming, choking fit Ron wasn't going to ignore it any longer. 

"Ron!" Dia barked, "let it go."

"Dia he's my child and he's probably thrown up on himself from his crying by now." Ron yelled back, walking down the hall to Tommy's room.

Sure enough the child was vomiting as he walked in from the crying, "Ohbuddy." Ron murmured walking over to his son, "ShhI know baby." He said gently stripped Tommy of his sleep shirt and changed him into something clean. He then changed the sheets and got them in the wash, before focusing on his still crying son.

"Ddaddy." Tommy choked out, "h-how long have I beenhhome?"

"You've been home for a while now buddy. Do you not remember?"

The child shook his head, "all I know is th-that M-mommies mad b-but I don't know why."

"GodDia get in here!" He yelled, "and drop the attitude at the door."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any mistakes? Let me know. Oh, and Dia isn't abusive, in the past people asked, she's just stressed. -Siren Jax


	4. Tear Filled Eyes

"Is Tommy coming today? Adam asked while eating breakfast. He didn't have school today, the teachers had some really big meeting, that couldn't wait until after school, so they canceled school.

"Yeah he'll be here in a minute honey." Leila murmured leaning against the counter.

"MommyTommy's sick, something is wrong with his head. I don't know what, but it's only going to get worse if they don't help him." Adam said, startling Leila.

"I know baby." She sighed before hearing the doorbell ring. "I'll be back honey." She opened the door to Ron Ratliff, holding Tommy to his chest, who happened to be crying. "Someone's upset this morning."

"This has been going on since 7 o'clock last night. Dia scared the shit out of him last night and then he turned around and scared the shit out of both of us." Ron sighed, "it's been a long night."

"Uh-oh, what happened?"

"It was like he had an out of body experience if you know what I mean. It started when Dia woke him up here, his attitude was horrid on the way home, he bit himself, hence the bruises on his arms, he dug his nails into his arm. He was not our Tommy Joe. She was beyond mad at him, so when he refused to eat dinner she scooped him up, gave him a bath and put him in bed telling him not to get up and telling us to ignore his crying." He explained, still trying to calm Tommy down. "At one his crying turned into piercing sobs, so I had to get up, you know. He had vomited on himself from crying, so I got him cleaned up and held him and he finally said, 'Daddy how long have I been home from Mrs. Leila's house."

"Oh my God." Leila whispered.

"Yeah, Dia didn't seem too concerned, she was still upset with him. Anyways, I held him until he calmed down, then went back to bed once I knew he was asleep. And he didn't start crying again until he saw Dia this morning, so I'll also be picking him up today."

"Alright well we'll be here."

"Alright buddy, Daddies got to go to workcome on go with Mrs. Leila." He murmured.

But the child clung to him, "no I want Daddy."

"Daddy will pick you up later baby, right now you have to play with Adam yeah?"

Tommy reluctantly let go and Leila took him in her arms. 

"He hasn't eaten and he didn't eat last night so I'm sure he's starving, and his clothes are in his bag. Bye buddy." He said leaving.

Leila held the now sniffling Tommy in her arms, rubbing his back gently as she walked into the kitchen, where Adam and her husband, Eber, were. They both looked up when they heard Tommy, seeing him in Leila's arms, his head on her shoulder and arms around her neck. 

"Adam's not gots school today." He mumbled, his brown eyes trained on the red head.

"No not today, he's here to play with you." Leila smiled looking through his bag, "are you hungry? Daddies got some cheerios in here for you."

"Tommy's not hungry." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his fist.

"Daddy said you didn't eat last night either, sweetie, are you sure?"

He nodded, pulling on his bangs and closing his eyes, "mm not hungry."

"Eber, this is Tommy." Leila said rubbing his back.

"He's a cute kid. I'm heading out to work, bye Adam, bye hun." He said kissing them both and walking out.

"Besides you biting yourself did Mommy hurt you?" Leila asked setting Tommy on the counter and stroking his hair.

"She hurt Tommy's feelings." He whispered.

"Aww, did you try to eat this morning?"

"I tried to eat, but then Mommy came in and I thought she'd hurt my feelings again."

She sighed, "well we'll get you dressed and then you and Adam can go play, yeah?"

He nodded watching her look through his bag and pull out his clothes, "that's Lisa's." he mumbled picking up the pink t-shirt and hugging his to his chest.

"Why do you have Lisa's shirt?" she asked taking his sleep shirt off and replacing it with a clean black one.

"It smells like hershe promised to always be with me somehow." He answered, now dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

"How sweet." She murmured taking Adam's cereal bowl and putting it in the sink, "Adam take him to your room to play ok baby? If you need me, I'll be down here with Neil."

"Ok." Adam smiled getting up. Leila helped Tommy off the counter, and watched the two walk away to Adam's room.

-_//_-Siren Jax-_//_-

Leila didn't hear from the boys until noon when they got hungry. They settled at the coffee table with sandwiches and watched a movie while they ate. When Ron came to pick his son up, both Adam and Tommy were asleep in the floor, while the movie flashed on the screen.

And because it wasn't his mother, Tommy went back to sleep in the car and even made it through the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mistakes are mine


End file.
